Much of my beekeeping is not exactly well-planned. I mean, I keep notes for each hive and have a definite objective each time I visit, but that's no substitute for thinking, unfortunately.
The brood box on one hive could do with changing. Scrotty old foundation, tons of propolis - you get the picture. Reading up on performing a Bailey comb change put me off completely. Instead, I went for the the following: stick a new (deep) brood box on top of the current brood. The idea is that the bees all migrate upwards, and at the end of the season or next spring, I can remove the tatty old brood.
Great. Except that with the new deep brood on top, I how have a hive almost taller than me....
How, exactly, will I manage to lift off full supers?